exercise · all tools
Circle of Influence
A reflection exercise from Covey's Habit 1 (Be Proactive): list current concerns, then sort them into the Circle of Concern (things you worry about) versus the Circle of Influence (things you can affect). Notice where your energy goes, and deliberately redirect attention and next actions into the influence circle — which, used over time, tends to expand it.
- In team use (holding 1), keep it about work concerns unless the group has contracted for more
- Don't weaponize it against legitimate concern — structural problems aren't reframed away; the tool directs energy, it doesn't deny reality
Practical
- Time
- 20-30 min + 10 landing
- Group
- 1–30 · individual, small-group
- Settings
- self-guided, in-person, online
- Materials
- Paper or whiteboard; two concentric circles
- Mechanisms
- cognitive-reframing, values-clarification
- Change scope
- state → skill · repeatable
Instructions
- Where
- franklincoveyme.com/web/content/files/20210608/file_631665933…
- Availability
- Open online — published at the link, free to read
Source link checked 29 Aug 2026 — unchanged since we recorded it on 28 Aug 2026
This directory describes and points home; the instructions stay with the people who made them.
Origin
Stephen R. Covey — The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Habit 1: Be Proactive)
In this directory via The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Maps almost verbatim onto the revised framework's Proactivity (A4) — a 1989 tool meeting a 2025 skill. Good example of an `aligned` (non-IDG) source contributing a precise skill match.
status: checked · added 2026-08-25